Chili Con Carne

I'm personally not a big fan of chili but my tombee loves it and I always aim to please. Plus, it's always nice in winter to have a steamy bowl of chili to warm you up. I made this in my slow cooker but if you don't have one, just simmer it for 2 hours until it thickens. I made this the night before, then let it sit in order to fully develop the flavours. Tombee loved the chili and I think the chocolate addded a sweet taste and silky mouthfeel to the chili. I made southern buttermilk cornbread from Andrea's blog to go with the chili and I loved the corny taste of the cornbread. However, I found it a little dry and crumbly but since I haven't had much cornbread, I can't compare to other types. When I was searching for a cornbread recipe, most of them included sugar as an ingredient but I thought a savoury, rather than a sweet, cornbread would taste better. I'll definitely have to try a sweet cornbread in the future to compare and see which I like better. Andrea's southern cornbread did go really well with the chili and I ate more cornbread than chili while tombee ate a bite of cornbread and two bowls of chili, and then ate my bowl too!


Chili con Carne

Ingredients
4 tablespoon oil
1lb ground beef
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 can whole tomatoes
3 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon sauce from chipotle peppers
1 chipotle pepper, minced (optional if you like your chili really spicy)
3 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups beef stock
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can kernel corn, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoon chili flakes (reduce or leave out if you don't want it spicy)
2 tablespoon chili powder (reduce to 1 tablespoon if you don't want it spicy)
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoon paprika
1 tablesoon oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 square bakers chocolate
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a pan and add onions, green pepper, red pepper and carrots and cook until vegetables are soft. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
2. Add remaining 2 tablespoon in a pan and add garlic. Fry until fragrant, then add ground beef. Break up large pieces of ground beef, then add spices. Mix with meat and fry until mixture is fragrant.
3. Add vegetable mixture back into meat, then add tomatoes, beef stock, chipotle and chipotle sauce, tomato paste, and sugar. Mix until well combined. Taste mixture and add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add the drained kidney beans and corn and bring everything to a boil. Transfer mixture to a slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours. Alternatively, you can simmer chili for 2-2 1/2 hours until liquid dries and mixture becomes thick.
5. Add chocolate and stir to completely melt and mix the chocolate in. Taste and add salt and pepper if you'd like.
6. Let sit overnight to allow flavours to develop and reheat when ready or serve right away with cornbread.

Chili Garlic Eggplant with Shredded Bamboo Shoots

I love eggplant but I always have such a hard time cooking it. I've only cooked with the Japanese eggplants, the long, thin kind, and the one time I attempted Eggplant Parmesan using regular eggplants, I had to throw away the dish because it was so awful. With the Japanese eggplants, I like to steam them for a couple of minutes so that they soften but still maintain their shape. If I don't do this, I find that the eggplant never gets soft enough for my taste. I added shredded chili bamboo shoots because I had some in my fridge and I thought the chili bamboo shoots would go nicely with the chili sauce for the eggplant.


The jar of chili bamboo shoots I used.


A close up of the bamboo shoots.


Chili Garlic Eggplant with Shredded Bamboo Shoots

Ingredients
1lb Japanese eggplants
1/2 cup chili bamboo shoots
1 tablespoon oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1" knob of ginger, cut into tiny matchsticks
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 cup water

Sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon hot bean sauce

Directions
1. Place a steaming rack inside a wok or deep pot and fill with water to 3" below top of steaming rack. Bring to boil.
2. Cut eggplants into 3" long wedges and place inside a heatproof plate.
3. When water in wok boils, place plate with eggplant onto steaming rack and cover. Steam until eggplant is tender (a chopstick can easily be pierced through the skin) but still maintain their shape. Remove from wok.
4. Heat oil in a pan. Add minced garlic and ginger and stir fry until fragrant.
5. Add eggplant and stir fry for a minute.
6. Mix sauce ingredients together and add to pan.
7. Stir eggplant unti fully coated with sauce.
8. Add bamboo shoots and 1 teaspoon of oil from jar and mix until incorporated throughout.
9. Stir together cornstarch and water until cornstarch is dissolved and pour into pan.
10. Mix eggplant quickly until cornstarch slurry is absorbed and mixture has thickened and taken on a glossy appearance.
11. Serve and enjoy!